WASHINGTON (RNS) — A new report confirmed long-held assumptions about religious activists from the left and right. The only thing both sides seem to have in common — faith — is a more important part of their lives than among the general public.
But beyond that, the two poles differ dramatically on political priorities and biblical interpretation.
Anti-war protesters marched from the National Cathedral to the White House last year. At center is Sojourners/Call to Renewal founder Jim Wallis (in hat) and National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar (with clergy stole). (RNS FILE PHOTO/Courtesy of Ryan Beiler/Sojourners)
|
The typical conservative religious activist tends to be a male evangelical who reads the Bible literally and views fighting abortion and same-sex marriage as the top political priorities.
On the other hand, a woman who attends a mainline Protestant church, holds an expansive view of Scripture and thinks health care and poverty are top priorities is likely to be labeled a progressive religious activist.
“What this suggests is that these groups are talking past each other,” said John Green, one of the co-authors of Faithful, Engaged and Divergent and director of the Bliss Institute for Applied Politics in Akron, Ohio. “They have, really, very different priorities. … A lot of what’s going on is an argument about what the political agenda ought to be.”
Robert P. Jones, another author of the report, said the surveys also indicate differences in the ways the two groups mobilize their activism.
For example, progressive religious activists are more wired, engaging in online activism, while conservative religious activists are more involved in state campaigns and ballot initiatives.
But no matter what their rate of activity, religious activists on both ends of the ideological spectrum said their faith was an important driver of their work.
“Both religious activist groups cite faith as an important factor in their voting decision,” said Jones, president of Public Religion Research. “But conservative acti-vists were more likely to say that their faith was the most important factor in their voting decision.”
Although the findings clearly delineated differences between the groups, the authors said it showed at least one challenge for both groups — the age of activists.
Close to 50 percent of both groups — 49 percent of conservatives and 43 percent of progressives — were older than 65.